Anza-Borrego Desert: Mine Wash East Fork Loop

Rating *****
Length 6 mile (return) - 2 Hour, 40 minutes (return trip). Moderate.
Elevation 2200 - 3200 feet
Access On the 78 exit on mile 79.1. 2.7 mile from the crossing with the S3. Drive for about 3.9 Miles and park at the fork. You need some ground clearance.

A scenic loop in two forks of the mine wash.

At the fork take the East fork, the one without the dirt road.
Real easy on a lot of firm sand, some boulders along the way, but only a few.
Mostly easy up to point "Saddle".

At this point head North, cross country, towards the wash below, sand, small boulders and some scrubs, this is the only Moderate part of the hike.

Once in the wash, follow it North/East, a narrow wash, sometimes filled with small boulders and scrubs.

Close to the main wash, a steeper drop (point "Drop"), but going down isn't much of a problem.
Now we are in a much wider wash, with still one more drop to go. You can bypass this one, but it's a bit slippery coming down.

While meeting the wash road, there is a mine tunnel, on your left a couple of 100 yards further, hidden and almost buried in the sand.

Continue following the road up to the car.

How to get here:

This is a wash with a clearly marked road, somewhat maintained. Expect some soft sand, rocks and some lavender, normally a high clearance car should be able to make it to the trail head.

 Disclaimer: Read this first before you start your hike. Contact: info/at/borregohiking/./com (leave out the /)
Hiking the Borrego Springs Area (Anza-Borrego Desert SP, Cuyamaca Rancho SP, Imperial Sand Dunes (Algodones Dunes), Jacumba, Laguna Mountain, Warner Springs) California, Hike with gps, gpx and kml (Google Earth).
© 2013-2024 Borregohiking.com.